“By the Rivers of Babylon” – From World Hit to Sound Magic
Le Bois Chantant and Alberto de Campo
Next concertThu 26 Nov 2026The Prodigy and the Rediscoverer7.30 pm, Jüdische Kultusgemeinde Dresden, Dresden (Eisenbahnstraße 1, 01097 Dresden)
Everyone knows the song. Almost nobody knows Psalm 137. Boney M.’s world hit of 1978 goes back to a lament about exile that Salamone Rossi set to music 350 years earlier – supported by the Venetian rabbi Leone da Modena.
The vocal ensemble Le Bois Chantant, made up of award-winning solo singers, has been reviving an almost forgotten practice since 2017: polyphonic improvisation following the rules of the Renaissance, without a score. The electronics pioneer Alberto de Campo answers with live electronics and a self-built high-tech instrument, the Polyharpye. The psalm begins with people sitting by the rivers of Babylon and remembering Zion. Here it is sung on the Elbe.